


Sleeping Arrangements

by LEDbiantastic



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 03:05:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16823860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LEDbiantastic/pseuds/LEDbiantastic
Summary: In the first episode of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, I noticed that Catra slept at the foot of Adora's bed. I thought it was really cute, so I banged out a quick fic of how that might have happened.





	Sleeping Arrangements

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I wrote this fanfic after seeing only the first five episodes of She-Ra, so it’ll probably get jossed for me when I watch more. I started the show last night and literally wrote this in less than 24 hours, so...

Sleeping Arrangements

At first they slept in their own beds. Catra couldn't remember a time when she and Adora didn’t sleep in the same room. A room full of other young cadets-to-be just like them. But not _just_ like them because Catra and Adora were the only two who were Shadow Weaver’s wards. In their training, Adora was always strong, agile, and determined. The others looked up to her. They looked down on Catra, though she couldn’t figure out why.

One night when they were still young children, Catra heard a small sound coming from the bunk below. It was a sad sound, a pathetic sound. Whimpers and moans. “Adora?” she whispered. No answer. “Adora? She called again, in the lowest voice she could make. Again no answer. Catra didn’t want to wake the others and have them hear how weak Adora sounded.

She leaped lightly down to the floor, landing without a sound as only she could. She crawled into Adora’s bed and squatted next to her. In the dark, Catra’s pupils enlarged and she could see Adora’s face clear as, well, dusk.

Adora’s eyes were closed. Good, that meant she wasn’t making those noises consciously. Her eyes were, in fact, squinched up tight. Her mouth was pulled down into a frown of such sorrow and despair that Catra felt an answering spark of sympathy wake inside her.

She nudged her friend’s arm. “Adora, wake up.” She nudged harder.

Adora’s eyes sprang open and she gasped awake. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! Are you okay?”

“What?”

“You were making weird noises asleep.”

“I was? Was I dreaming?” Catra shrugged. “I don’t remember. I don’t remember at all.” Adora’s voice felt wistful to Catra, who couldn’t understand why Adora would want to remember a dream that made her weak.

Catra and Adora stared at each other for a moment before Adora asked, “Um, now what?”

“Go back to sleep, I guess. Try to have good dreams.” Springing upward in a vertical leap, Catra got back into bed and went back to sleep.

The next night, Catra awoke to those soft, sad noises again. She jumped down and sat next to Adora. She poked her friend awake.

“What?” sleepy Adora mumbled.

“You were having sad dreams again.”

“Oh. Okay.” Adora rolled over and went back to sleep.

The next night, Catra lay awake in bed, trying to stay up to hear Adora’s bad dreams. She heard nothing, and when she fell asleep she slept through the night. Her last thought before she fell asleep was, _It’s not fair, when I stay up she doesn’t have the dreams._

The next day, Catra did worse in training than usual, and the other cadets noticed. After two conspired to trip her during a simulation, Adora helped her up and shouted at the others, “We’re on the same team! If you do that again, I’m telling!” When that didn’t have the desired effect, Adora continued, “If you mess up one of your squadmates out there—” She pointed to the nearest wall, “—we could all die!” Cowed, they apologized insincerely and left Catra alone, aside from making faces at her when no one else was looking.

That night, Adora had the sad dreams again and Catra woke up to her crying softly in her sleep. Part of her thought, _Not again! I’m too tired!_ The rest of her thought, _Adora protected me today. I should protect her back._ Adora was a good friend to her, so she dropped down to the floor and crawled into Adora’s bed. She was so tired that instead of waking Adora up, she just curled up on the bed beside her. She made sure her back was gently pressing the sleeping girl’s side so she’d know Catra was there. Adora’s distressed noises quieted at once, so Catra let herself fall asleep.

She woke up early the next morning and carefully slid away from Adora’s side before she bounced up into her own bed. She was relieved to make it back to her own bed before anyone noticed.

For the next several nights, Catra waited up until everyone fell asleep, and then slipped into bed with Adora. She always stayed on top of the blanket, not liking how blankets felt on her skin, weighing her down, restricting her ability to leap out of bed at a moment’s notice. In the morning, before everyone woke up, she’d jump back up to her own bunk with none the wiser.

After about ten days, trimming either end of her sleeping time started to take a toll on Catra. She had to stay up later than the last one to fall asleep and wake up earlier than the first one up. She made more mistakes during lessons and training and got teased more by the others for her mistakes. Adora stood up for her, as she always did.

With exhaustion now ruling her body, one morning Catra didn’t wake up early enough. She felt Adora stirring against her back and woke up in a panic.

“Catra?” A groggy voice asked. “What are you doing here?”

Catra kept her voice low as she explained in a rush: “Well, you’ve been having these sad dreams, but when I come down here you aren’t sad in your sleep anymore, so I’ve been coming down with you, but I can stop if you want.” Even her seven-year-old mind could somehow tell it was wrong to be in someone else’s bed, especially if that person didn’t want you there. All Catra knew was that the others would definitely tease her for this.

“You can stay.” Adora said. “And you can come back tonight. I don’t mind.”

That night, Catra waited by the bottom bunk in her sleep uniform while Adora climbed into bed and got comfortable under the blanket. Catra felt like all the other cadets-to-be had noticed that she wasn’t going to her own bed. The fur on her back and tail stood on end, puffing out to show her agitation and discomfort. Catra wished it wouldn’t do that. She didn’t like it when others could tell how she felt just by looking at her. She hoped fervently that when she got older, she’d be able to control it.

Adora motioned to Catra, indicating that she was ready and Catra could get on the bed too. Gingerly, Catra climbed on top of the blanket. She was incredibly conscious of the eyes on her. As she crawled in her customary circle before curling up by Adora’s side, she heard snickers and mutters from the room.

“You got a problem?” Adora asked, loudly and rhetorically.

The only sound became the regular sounds of several kids getting into bunk beds and settling in to sleep. Catra smiled to herself. Adora was a good friend to have.

* * *

“Hey Catra,” Adora said one night as she pulled the blanket up to her shoulders. “When did you start sleeping with me? I can’t remember.”

“Uh it was back when we were, like, six or seven.” Catra responded carefully. She waited until Adora got comfortable before hopping up at the foot of her bed.

“Why?”

“Huh?” Catra paused halfway through her nightly rotation before she curled up.

“Why did you start sleeping here? I don’t remember.”

“Oh. Uh. _I_ used to have really scary nightmares.” Catra lied. No way was she gonna let anyone see her Adora as weak, not even Adora herself. She quickly formulated the rest of the story in her head. “You let me come sleep down here when they scared me. I guess I eventually just started sleeping here every night.”

“Oh.” Adora accepted the story without hesitation. “Do you still—”

Anticipating the question, Catra cut her off. “Nope. Sleeping with you stopped them.”

“Good.” Adora declared. “I’m glad.” She reached forward and rested her hand on Catra’s back. A low rumble built inside Catra and escaped as a purr. Yup, Adora was a good friend to have. She was her best friend. And no one would even think badly of her, Catra would see to it.


End file.
